Phew, what a year. I have no idea how, but I did it! It was fun, but I feel I won't be repeating it next year. Completing this event was my main focus in my free time, so I kinda neglected other hobbies because of it. Plus I had a lot of irl stuff going on and I know I'll have even more stuff to take care of in 2022, so I'll decrease my goal number by a lot next year.
Anyway, I found a lot of great new series like Eye of the Beholder, Frog Detective, Dark Souls or Silent Hill. I also finally got Switch and played few games on it. But not every game was great. I would say Tell Me Why is still the biggest disappointment for me, followed up by Dark Souls 2. Some games were straight up boring like The Stillness of the Wind or 911 Operator. I decided to rank each new game I've played this year. This means following games won't be included in the list:
38. Tell Me Why
I'm so glad I didn't pay any money for this awful homophobic piece of crap. I like DONTNOD games, but I feel like they just can't capture the same feeling as with the original Life is Strange. I'm sorry but if the only thing you can say about your game is that it has a trans character in it (which is basically what is their website all about), and that character turns out to be completely irrelevant and without any other characteristics aside from being a trans character, then what is really a point of this game? It has boring story, badly written characters, barely any explanation is given to main characters' powers, but at least puzzles and cinematography were decent. After this and Life is Strange 2, this is last game from DONTNOD I'll ever play.
37. Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin
How can this game exists? It's nothing like Dark Souls 1. It's quite the opposite. All the clever enemy placement is replaced with simple room with random multiple enemies, clever level design is replaced with straight lines, clever hidden lore of each boss is replaced with well... nothing. And so on. I wish I never touched this game.
36. 911 Operator
I don't think I even have to say what made me dislike this game. It's in its header already. Ads. Ads to other games are everywhere in this game. Before I even got to the main menu, the devs pushed their other games in my face. And the gameplay itself was pretty weak and got boring quickly.
35. The Stillness of the Wind
If any game was pointless, it was this one. No matter what I did or how hard I tried, it had no effect on the outcome. The game just took all my progress away, when it decided it's time to end. On top of that, while it acts as one of those relaxing farming games, I was stressed out of my mind just to do everything I could to survive, not knowing that I could just let the game go on on its own and read a book or go out instead.
34. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
To this point the games were straight up bad. Breath of the Wild is the divider between bad and mediocre games. What a disappointment this game was. Ubisoft level of open world mixed with barely any Zelda gameplay resulted in a game that was boring, uninteresting and painfully long.
33. Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor
While worst out of the trilogy, it does introduce few good mechanics like using all possible attacks with only one button. It just wasn't as good as the other Eye of the Beholder games. And when I started making this list, I realized it wasn't as good as other games too.
32. Minit
You know I like when a game has an unique gimmick or mechanic. Minit has one. But it doesn't really do much with it and it quickly becomes annoying. At least it was not a long game.
31. Polarity
In lot of ways similar to Minit, but the problem with this game is more about bad save/puzzle design than anything else. I wish the devs actually made sequel or remake of this game with more levels and softlocking solved.
30. Yo-kai Watch 2: Fleshy Souls
This was basically Yo-kai Watch, which I loved, but with so much worse story, bossfights and mechanics. Like train travelling. Oh my god how I hated that thing.
29. Silent Hill 4
Continuing on with another disappointing sequel, Silent Hill 4 wasn't a bad horror game. It was just bad Silent Hill game. There was literally no reason for this game to be called Silent Hill and it would be 100x better.
28. Might & Magic: Book One
I think I was too harsh with my score for this game. Looking back at it, it was fine. I'll play more M&M games in 2022.
27. Nekopara 4
On the other hand, I was probably way too forgiving with my score for this game. When it comes to Nekopara games, it's one of the best, but it's still just a simple visual novel.
26. Path of Giants
I almost forget about this game. It was fine, but nothing to return to or remember after the first playthrough.
25. Doom II: Hell of Earth
Doom has become one of my favourite games from this year, but it's sequel was just not that interesting as the first one. It was basically the original Doom, but harder. I enjoyed it.
24. Firewatch
I wanted to play Firewatch since it was released, but wasn't sure if it isn't overpriced and overhyped. In the end, I'm glad I played it, but it's one of those games that tries way too hard to have a deep philosophical story and fails to deliver.
23. Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
Fine remake that I still return to to this day.
22. The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game
This was a pleasant surprised. It's simple and short, but has so much personality. One small island was able to create more believable world in less than 60 minutes than some epic RPGs could in 50 hours.
21. Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard
Basically the first game, but set in a location that I personally enjoyed more.
20. Yakuza Kiwami 2
I'm beginning to see a pattern. Great sequel, but with not as good story as the original game. But I still can't wait to see, how it all continues.
19. Dishonored
Not the kind of game I would play often, but I enjoyed it. Not enough for me immediately check the sequel, but I think I'll get to it one day.
18. Eye of the Beholder
I was afraid this game would be too hard or complicated for me, since I've never really played dungeon crawlers, but in the end, it made me enjoy this genre a lot.
17. Yoku's Island Express
Another game that won me over because of its gimmick. Pinball sections were fun to beat and it always felt worth it.
16. Blue Fire
Yet another cool surprise. If only it was more polished.
15. Little Big Workshop
Building genre is another genre I don't really play, because these games don't usually have a clear goal. This one had it. And it was fun. I'm even considering buying DLC and replaying it.
14. Silent Hill 2
It was hard to rank the original Silent Hill trilogy, but in the end I realized that I enjoyed Silent Hill 2 the least. It was way too easy and while the story was top notch, it didn't really tied to the first and third game.
13. Tsioque
Modern old-school P&C adventure was something I had no idea I wanted or needed, but now I want more.
12. Silent Hill
Extremely well done horror. To this day, I remember the section in school, how I got lost in there and how afraid I was to explore it. And it only got better from there.
11. Monster Hunter: Rise
Not as good as World, but still a great Monster Hunter game. I just wish the ending wasn't one huge grind on few repeating levels.
10. Carto
This game was magical. The map building was fun and I enjoyed how it affected the world.
9. Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon
I fell in love with dungeon crawlers because of this game. Another genre I'll focus on in 2022.
8. DuckTales Remastered
The main theme became staple in my playlist. And the rest of the game is as good as the music.
7. The Ultimate Doom
Now we're talking. Nothing but a pure swift action. And now that I talk about it, I should play more games like this in 2022.
6. Silent Hill 3
Just outside the TOP5 is Silent Hill 3. It was more action oriented than the previous Silent Hill games, but it was the most polished game from the trilogy.
5. Superliminal
You might have notice that I like puzzle games by now. And this one was mindblowing. It really played with me and my perception and broke the classic puzzle stereotypes.
4. Metroid Dread
Modern Metroid in classic style. Once I started playing, I had a hard time putting the game down.
3. Dark Souls
Why did I avoid this series for so long? One of the most satisfying experience I've ever had. It became one of my favourite RPG of all time, alongside Gothic and Kingdom Come: Deliverence.
2. The Longing
How good can a game that forces you to wait 400 days to finish be? Well, extremely good. I loved how this game treated a time. And how well it built up the world around you. I'm still considering replaying it and getting other endings.
1. There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension
I had no idea this game will grab me as much as it did. It will be just short game with meta commentary that will think how clever it is, I thought. Oh, how wrong I was. Well, it was just that, but it was good. The moment the first credits started rolling and I realized it's actually a level, I said it's one of the best game I've ever played. It was back in March. And no other game for the rest of the year could get even close to change it.
And that's it for this year. For the next year, I think I'll set up a goal of playing 30 games. And I'll make a list of games/series I want to focus on, since I sometimes found myself not knowing what to play next.